The thinking behind this blog is really simple: The guilty should be prevented from reoffending and the innocent should not be convicted -- not very complex but often not achieved.

The spotlight is also thrown on feral law enforcement

Friday, January 01, 2016

Useless British police

Police are failing to solve nearly half of all crimes recorded, allowing 1.5million offenders to get away scot-free. Statistics show that police did not identify a suspect in almost 49 per cent of crimes. For some offences, such as theft, as many as seven out of ten investigations are closed without a culprit being identified.

Only around one in six of all offences investigated by the police ends in a charge or a summons.

Critics said the figures proved criminals are ‘getting away with’ offending. They are likely to further damage public faith in the police at a time when officers are under fire for failing to attend the scene of many crimes.

For the first time, the Home Office has published the outcomes of criminal investigations. Figures from 38 of England and Wales’s 43 forces found that in 2014-15 some 3.3million crimes were recorded. Of these, 48.9 per cent were written off as ‘no suspect identified’.

More than seven in ten cases of theft, criminal damage and arson were not solved, according to official figures.

In 51 per cent of robberies and in about one in eight sexual and violent offences – about 12 per cent – a perpetrator was never identified. Lucy Hastings, of Victim Support, said: ‘Victims will clearly be dismayed where their case is closed with no suspect identified.’

The figures come at a time when Home Secretary Theresa May is demanding improvements in police performance. She said they must be ready to do more with fewer resources and ‘prevent crime before it happens’.

However, the Labour Party and some rank-and-file-police blame Government cuts for the failure to catch criminals. Shadow police minister Jack Dromey said 17,000 police officers have been axed since 2010.

He said: ‘Recorded crime is not only rising, but where crimes do happen, the police do not have the resources required to help victims get justice. This is an extremely concerning admission that the Tories are letting criminals get away with it.’

The statistics revealed that 532,000 of all cases investigated by the police – or 16.6 per cent – do not go to trial because of difficulties with evidence.

Another 43,500 (1.4 per cent) are not in the public interest and 341,500 (9.2 per cent) are dealt with out of court. It means only 15.5 per cent, or one in six offences, end in a charge or a summons, equivalent to nearly 600,000 prosecutions.

The Home Office stressed the figures could change if investigations are reopened to assess new evidence.

The department’s bulletin, Crime Outcomes In England and Wales, said: ‘Given the different natures of the various crime types shown, it is unsurprising that some outcome types are more common for some crime types than others.’

Public confidence in the police is already at a worrying low. Last month, a Daily Mail poll found seven out of ten people rarely see a police officer on the street. Almost 30 per cent of the public do not believe that, if they were the victim of a crime, the police would treat their case ‘seriously’.

The police were recently accused of ‘giving a green light to criminals’ after it was disclosed that some force areas have abandoned inquiries into shoplifting and fuel theft from petrol stations.

In some areas, victims of burglary have been told to email the police. And Leicestershire Police admitted in August it was not investigating attempted break-ins at odd-numbered houses.

In October, the Mail reported that the overall number of crimes reported to police in the year to June had increased 5 per cent to 4.3million.

Police Minister Mike Penning said: ‘We are clear that all crimes reported to the police should be taken seriously, investigated and, where appropriate, taken through the courts and met with tough sentences.’

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Dedication

In memory of Fatty Arbuckle, a good and innocent man whose movie career as a comedian was ruined by an opportunistic prosecution. The woman he was accused of murdering almost certainly died of natural causes. He was eventually cleared but the damage was done.

A thought

I love the Mae West story where some judge wearing a robe during the middle of the day, and seated in a high chair peered down and asked her, 'Are you showing contempt for my court?' To which she replied, 'I’m doing my best not to show it, your honor.' Maybe we need to give up trying to not show it."